Twist of Fate: Unforeseen Circumstances
by whoa nellie
Summary: When B'Elanna decides to play a prank on Ceshlyta, things go horribly wrong. Meanwhile, Harry takes Sassy's advice regarding Seven of Nine.


Originally posted: 6/13/02

Title: Twist of Fate: Unforeseen Circumstances  
Author: Whoa Nellie  
Series: Voyager  
Rating: PG-13 (for some violence as well as the usual sex)  
Codes: C/f, K/7, crew  
Summary: When B'Elanna decides to play a prank on Ceshlyta, things go horribly wrong. Meanwhile, Harry takes Sassy's advice regarding Seven of Nine.

Helpful tidbit of information: Aalm is a Mayan word meaning heart with a connotation of soul --the essence of a person so to speak.

Author's Note: Feel free to archive to any pertinent site. Not necessary to have read any of the previous stories except for more detailed background information on Ceshlyta and how she got there. Previous stories from the Twist of Fate storyline (in order): Blessings of the Sky Spirits, Wyrd, What Comes Naturally, Fresh Perspective, Culinary Delights and Chaos.

Timeline: Twist of Fate picks up and takes off of the canon universe early in season five just after the episode Timeless.

This is an edited down version of the original. If you are 18 or older and would like to read the original version, it can be found at Whoa Nellie's Sci-Fi Romance Website. The link can be found on our author page.

As always: Paramount owns all the marbles, we just have a lot more fun playing with them.   
Feedback is always appreciated.

UNFORESEEN CIRCUMSTANCES

"Seven, do you have a minute?" Harry Kim saw the Borg leaving the mess hall as he exited the turbolift.

"My duty shift in Astrometrics begins in precisely six minutes. As it will only require four minutes to arrive there, I have two minutes," she calculated and apprised him.

Catching up to her, he paused to collect his thoughts. He had finally finished his computations the night before and was ready to make an absolute idiot of himself. "I have something I'd like you to look over." He held out a PADD. "According to my calculations, we are 88.3 compatible with each other. I based the computations on a model of intrinsic and extrinsic qualities further broken down into sub-categorizations such as intelligence, personality traits and biological characteristics under the intrinsic group and professional and social interests in the extrinsic category."

The Borg drone accepted the proffered PADD and began scanning the data as she listened.

Harry took a deep breath before continuing. "I had to guess at your score on some of the items. I calculated the probability of your interest based on the degree of mathematical intricacy and precision required. My scores are there as well as a regressional means analysis of compatibility for each factor, sub-category and overall groups. The intrinsic group yielded a higher score at 92.7 overall than the extrinsic group at 83.9. The sub-category of professional interests, further broken down by both areas of expertise and areas of interest yielded the highest individual rating at 98.3--I had to deduct for differences in career ambition," he offered as a side note. "The area with the lowest ranking was in the extrinsic interests at 69.5, but if you divide them into solo and group activities, the majority of the difference falls into the group factor." He took another deep breath, absently hoping that he wasn't hyperventilating, and concluded his speech. "Based on my computations, I believe an interpersonal social relationship between us makes statistical sense." That was quite probably the most he'd ever said to her at one time, not to mention the least romantic request for a date he'd ever made.

Seven had also done an analysis of their compatibility although her own estimate, revisited and revised after their interesting encounter in Sickbay previously, had yielded an 86.1 match. It might prove beneficial if she were to compare their analyses. "I will review your data," she informed him before turning to stride down the corridor.

Watching her walk away, Harry resisted the urge to dance and shout. That was definitely a possible maybe, no doubt about it. With a bit more spring in his step, he entered the mess hall for a quick breakfast. 

...

"Are you heading down to the surface for some shore leave, Sassy?" Tom swallowed a bite of his breakfast before asking. He had steered a reticent B'Elanna over to join Chakotay and Sassy at their table. He knew that the two women weren't entirely comfortable together, but all B'Elanna needed was to get to know the commander's wife a little better. For all of her tough independence, the Klingon was a fiercely loyal friend; once she got past her distrust of the botanist, everything would be fine. This was a great opportunity for that since Voyager was in orbit around Techora, an M-class planet with a friendly, humanoid species and a thriving culture. The captain had authorized shore leave while they conducted some business and was planning to remain in orbit for the next week, so everyone was in an upbeat mood.

"Not today," Ceshlyta answered. "Chakotay's on duty all day today. We're going down tomorrow. It'll be nice to set foot on solid ground again."

A wonderful idea occurred to the pilot. "B'Elanna's off and she's planning to go down with a couple of others today. Why don't you tag along with them?"

"No," the women answered almost simultaneously.

"Why not?" Chakotay looked to his wife. "It would give you more time on the surface. It would also give you a chance to scope out the local flora before you meet with their botanists at the end of the week."

Tom pushed his plan to B'Elanna. "It would give the two of you a chance to get to know each other better."

The chief engineer's reply was drowned out by the arrival of Harry Kim.

"Is this seat taken?" The ensign indicated a seat next to B'Elanna. He sat down amid the chorus of 'good mornings'. "I wanted to thank you, Sassy. I took your advice."

"Did it work?" Given the redness around the young man's ears, Ceshlyta guessed that it had something to do with Seven of Nine.

Taking a bite of his breakfast, Harry simply shrugged questioningly and nodded yes. 

Suddenly B'Elanna was struck by a thought. "We're going to be heading down to the surface in about a half an hour, Sassy." Actually she was supposed to meet them in a few minutes, but she needed some time to plan. "You should definitely head down with us."

"Great," Chakotay patted Sassy's hand. "Then it's settled."

'Apparently', she thought to herself, 'I'm the only person at this table who doesn't want me to spend the day with Torres and her friends'. Guilt stabbed at her, 'grudges are heavier than a mountain of boulders,' the old proverb colored her thoughts. "You're right, Tom, B'Elanna and I should get to know each other better." She smiled across the table at him before turning to the chief engineer. "Thirty minutes, B'Elanna?"

Standing, her tray in her hands, Torres nodded. "Transporter Room 1."

"Well," Chakotay stood and eyed Tom. "If we don't get going, we're both going to be late."

"See you tonight, my love." Sassy watched the two men exit just behind B'Elanna. She waved Neelix over with the coffee pot, she was definitely going to need more caffeine.

...

Thirty minutes later Sassy stood in the corridor outside Transporter Room 1. She had changed into the jumpsuit and boots that she had been wearing when she'd first arrived on Voyager. It was more utilitarian than her usual outfits, but since she'd only been working in the hydroponic garden aboard Voyager, once the renovations had been finished she hadn't really needed the sturdy, serviceable outfit. She had also braided her hair and she flipped the end off her shoulder as she entered the transporter room. Other than B'Elanna, she only recognized one other member of the foursome--Mariah Henley. Mariah spent a great deal of time in the garden, usually early evenings. The ensign had even programmed several holoemitters to project nature images such as a waterfall near the sitting area to improve the ambience of the garden. Mariah looked a little discomfited and Sassy hoped that the other woman wasn't upset at her presence.

"All ready?" B'Elanna chirped. "Do you know everyone?"

"Just Mariah," Sassy indicated.

Pointing to the other two, the chief engineer made quick introductions. "That's Olandra Jor and the guy there is Tabor." She clapped her hands together and announced, "that's that. Everyone on the transporter pad."

"Who's handling transport?" Sassy didn't see anyone else there.

B'Elanna waved nonchalantly. "I've got it programmed. Computer, program Torres Alpha, energize."

Materializing on the surface below, Ceshlyta got her bearings and looked beside her for the others; they were nowhere to be seen. She reached up to call the ship but her fingers encountered only the smooth fabric of her jumpsuit. "Oh, very funny Torres," she muttered in irritation. "I guess I should be grateful that you let me keep my clothes on."

While she tried to decide what to do, she surveyed her surroundings. She was standing in an open compound, encircled by various stands. There were maybe six pathways that led into the open, common area. It was a market, of sorts. It didn't look like the type of place that visitors frequented, more like the neighborhood farmer's markets she remembered her great-grandfather telling her about as a child. Many of the buildings appeared to be improvised from miscellaneous materials, while some of the stands were nothing more than a board sitting on crates with goods piled on every square millimeter. Children ran and played throughout the market as both men and women of all ages bought and sold and even bartered various items amongst themselves. People glanced at her, trying to seem like they weren't staring at her. At least they didn't act afraid, they just didn't act as if they got all that many strangers. Deciding that there was nothing she could do about her situation for the moment, she began to browse around the stands.

"What is this?" Sassy asked the man at one particular booth. It was a potted plant, a beautiful teal color; not exactly a flower but there were no obvious indications that it bore produce either. Idly she wished that she'd thought to bring a tricorder with her.

"Q'ta mo hada kixn?"

Realization dawned at the confused face of the vendor and the unintelligible string of words from his mouth. Without her comm badge, she also had no universal translator. Exhaling sharply, she just shook her head and waved at the man to forget it. She turned around to view the entire area. There were other crew members on the planet for shore leave; if she could just find one of them, she could have them contact Voyager to have her beamed back up.

East looked like the most promising direction, rugged hills rose up along the north-westerly edge of the market and to the south was a fairly desolate view. Already formulating the choice words that she planned to share with the Klingon over her concept of fun, she set off. She hadn't even made it out of the common area of the marketplace when men at each path into the compound threw off the robes that they had been wearing to reveal weapons. They began yelling and brandishing their knives, swords and one, at least, had a projectile weapon of sorts which they used to herd everyone in the marketplace toward the open common area. Sassy tried to slip past the two directly in front of her, but one of them grabbed her, shoving her back toward the center of the compound. Regaining her balance, she saw other men separating out women and driving off the children, old women, and men. There were only about eight of the attackers, easily twice as many men had been in the marketplace a few moments before. 'So much for chivalry,' she thought, watching the men fleeing in front of the children and elderly. Instinctively she slapped at her chest to call for help, remembering belatedly that she didn't have a comm badge on. "Damn it to hell."

The stand beside her was full of some type of tools. There were some heavy wooden sticks, about the length of an epee with one end sharpened to a point. She grabbed two of them, probably stakes for something, and whirled around to knock the knife from the hand of the man who had grabbed her and knocked him unconscious with a follow-up blow from the second stick to the side of his head.

"This isn't funny, B'Elanna!" she yelled as two of the raiders rushed at her. "Get me the hell out of here."

The first man to reach her had a large dagger in his hand. She used the sticks to deflect his intended blow just as she noticed the projectile weapon in the second man's hands. Cracking one of the sticks across the knee of the closer opponent, she forced him between that weapon and herself. It was just in time too, in that instant, the weapon popped and the first man stiffened and dropped to the ground. Shifting the stick into her hand like a javelin, she breathed a prayer of gratitude for having taken the elective physical education course as an undergraduate. She heaved the impromptu spear as hard as she could and quickly turned to locate the knife that the other man had been holding. It felt like an eternity before she got it pried from his fingers underneath his body and stood, bracing for the next attack. The image that greeted her brought a wave of horror and nausea. Her shot had been straight and true--the stick she had thrown, pointed-end forward, was buried in the second man's chest. He was lying on the ground, his hands weakly trying to pull it out and finally dropping, lifeless, to his sides.

The noise and chaos swirled around her, but Ceshlyta was frozen. She had taken a life, ended the existence of another being. For all of her training and practice in the ancient arts, she had never used them against another outside of sparring and tournaments. "I'm a college professor," she whimpered as he died right before her eyes.

A fleeing woman jostled her out of her shock. "Come with me!" Sassy yelled, survival instincts kicking in.

The young woman, Akala, didn't know what the stranger had said but she'd taken down three of the raiders so she must be a powerful fighter. Following the dark-haired woman out of the marketplace, she saw two of her friends, Tilki and Zathra, and called to them to join her.

Korl noticed the four women escaping into the wooded hills beyond the market. He had just decided to let them go, there was a strange ship in orbit and he wanted to be gone long before the authorities even knew that they'd struck, when one of his men reported in. Rage filled him as he learned that the woman leading the three others had killed Sofex, his only son. This was Sofex's first raid, he had only recently reached the age of manhood. Pointing to three of his men, he sent them after the four with instructions to capture them and rejoin the ship or return to base but to save the strange-looking one for him. He directed the others to load their captives onto one of the two shuttles hidden beyond the market--they'd leave the other for the men heading into the hills after the escapees.

...

"Well?" Tabor asked curiously when B'Elanna reappeared at the cafe.

Shrugging, Torres sat down and started eating her lunch. "She was gone, no human lifesigns anywhere near the coordinates we put her down at."

"Do you think she's all right?" The whole thing bothered Mariah, the commander's wife was pretty nice.

"She probably used some old Indian trick to get back to Voyager," B'Elanna sneered sarcastically. "Or she started crying so hard that someone called the authorities and they sent her back to the ship."

"Then why aren't we being chewed out by Chakotay right now?" Jor spoke up between mouthfuls.

"Who cares?"

...

Just as her lungs were about to burst, Sassy caught a glimpse of a relatively secluded grove a short way off of the path. She veered off, holding her arms up to protect her face from the thorny brambles that she crashed through. Reaching the grove, she collapsed onto the ground gasping for breath, her entire body trembling from the exertion of her panicked flight up the mountain. They had kept running, stopping to rest only briefly from time to time. From the angle of the sun it looked like it was almost noon now and they needed to get their bearings.

Akala and her friends entered the grove a minute later and dropped, exhausted, to the soft loam at the base of the trees. Nobody had ever escaped the raiders before, none of them knew what to do next. People didn't go up into the mountains either, the terrain was rugged and treacherous and wild animals hunted at night. How would they ever find their way back?

Slowly catching her breath, Sassy sat up and looked over at the three local women who had followed her into the woods. They were bleeding from scratches that covered almost every area of exposed skin. She held her arms out and realized that her hands were also covered with scratches; her jumpsuit had protected the rest of her body. The wounds were stinging slightly and blood oozed out making her hands slick. Slipping the dagger she held into her boot, she began investigating the nearby plants. She knew that nature provided almost everything one would need to survive, often putting plants with complementary or opposite properties near one another. If there were thorny bushes in this area, there should be something to soothe the scratches and prevent infection with nearby. There it was, right at the edge of the brambles. The acidity of the soil was right, the physiological features of the plant looked right. Breaking off a leaf, she tore it open to reveal the viscous fluid inside. She carefully smeared one of her scratches, biting her lip as it stung slightly but then immediately faded taking the pain of the cut with it. Satisfied that it was a natural antiseptic and topical anesthetic, she motioned to the others.

"Over here, this will help your scratches."

The blank faces reminded her that she had no way to communicate. She held up the leaf and exaggeratedly rubbed the liquid over the rest of her scratches. When the three women joined her, she pointed out the plant that she had used. While they were tending to their injuries, Sassy decided to take a look around.

The trees seemed fairly sturdy so she picked what was most likely the tallest one around and shimmied up into the foliage. Hoisting herself from one branch to the next, she tested each branch thoroughly before trusting it with her weight. About three quarters of the way up the tree, the branches thinned out too much for safety. As high as she was able to get, she surveyed the vista below. The four had actually made it almost a quarter of the way up the mountainside, bless the Spirits for the effects of adrenaline. A flash of light caught her attention. Focusing on that area a little ways further down from where they were, she saw a couple of figures coming up the path. There might have been more, she thought she saw a third shadow on the ground when the group passed across an open section of the path. With the adrenaline worn off, they needed to find someplace to hide from their pursuers. 

Swiftly climbing down, she dropped the final meter or so, landing easily on the soft mulch. The other three had finished treating their wounds and the one who had bumped into her in the market turned to her with a questioning expression. Pointing to the ground Sassy went down to one knee and brushed away the groundcover to bare a patch of dirt. She sketched out a mountain with four dots a quarter of the way up, indicating the four of them. Then she drew two circles further down, shrugged and added a third to indicate their pursuers. Wishing that she could reassure them, she took solace in the knowledge that Chakotay would come for her as soon as he knew that she was in trouble. He'd already know if that Klingon half-breed hadn't pulled her little stunt. Of course, if Torres hadn't pulled her stunt, she wouldn't have been in that marketplace, wouldn't have killed . . . Sassy quickly banished that train of thought. They just had to stay ahead of their pursuers until she was missed on Voyager. The path was definitely out but she had seen some caves off to their left and further up a distance. She quickly grabbed a handful of the plant leaves and stuffed them in her jumpsuit pockets, just in case. Motioning to the others, she started off through the underbrush, carefully scrutinizing the trees and plants that they passed for anything else that might be useful or edible.

...

"Incoming message, sir," Ayala announced from the ops console. Beta shift had just begun barely five minutes before.

Tuvok put the PADD of reports he'd been reviewing down. "On screen."

The familiar, compressed features, short, bristly hair and swirled skin mottling of the Security Minister appeared on the viewscreen. "Ah, Commander Tuvok, it is nice to see you again although I do regret the circumstances."

The Vulcan acknowledged the curious greeting. He had spent several hours reviewing the laws of the Techan culture as well as Starfleet regulations with the minister before the crew had been granted shore leave. "What can we do for you, Minister Grisk?"

"Actually, this is an official notification. Raiders struck one of the local markets on the outskirts of the capital earlier today." The security minister paused, he hated making these calls.

Tuvok rose from the command chair. "Do you have reason to believe that Voyager crew members were involved?" 

"According to the reports, there was a stranger in the market just before the attack. Descriptions of her arrival suggest the use of your transporter method and the description of her appearance suggests that she was one of your kind--like your captain." It had taken most of the day to sort the disjointed reports out. The children and elderly were easily confused but the men rarely gave complete reports, not wanting to admit how easily they fled.

"Human?"

Grisk nodded yes. "I'm sorry to inform you that your crew member has been abducted. My condolences on your loss."

...

Chakotay arrived at his quarters, opening his uniform jacket as he strode down the corridor. It had been a long shift and he'd been glad when the time came to turn the Bridge over to Tuvok for Beta shift. The captain was having dinner with the Commerce Minister and the Science Minister to discuss possible goods and information exchanges. He was surprised that Sassy hadn't called to let him know when she'd returned to the ship. Entering their quarters, the lights were still out so she obviously hadn't been back there since that morning. He figured that she had gone to the garden and lost track of time. He was about to activate his comm badge when it chirped under his fingers. "Chakotay here."

Tuvok's voice came through. "Commander, could you return to the Bridge? We have just received a report from the Techan Minister of Security regarding a possible missing crew member."

"Who?" Alarm sparked in the pit of his stomach.

"Unknown, I have issued an order recalling all crew to the ship," the Vulcan replied.

Already fastening his jacket, he asked. "Has B'Elanna and her group reported back?"

"Lieutenant Torres and her party returned almost two hours ago." The reply came after a brief pause.

Relieved, Chakotay left the quarters and headed for the turbolift. "Contact the captain and assemble senior staff in the conference room. I'm on my way."

...

"Ensign Kim."

Harry paused in the doorway of his quarters. His shift was over and he'd been planning to head down to Techora for a little while.

Seven of Nine briskly closed the distance between them. She had reviewed his data and found them to be within an acceptable error range. Immediately following her duty shift, she had sought out the ensign to apprise him of her analysis.

"Seven . . . hi." He was surprised to see her and wasn't sure what it meant.

Handing him back the PADD that he'd given her that morning, she stated, "I corrected some of your values; however, the results still indicate an overall compatibility of 87.49, a satisfactory result." She was uncomfortable but uncertain as to why. The thought of spending significant amounts of time in the company of Ensign Kim was pleasing, even something to be anticipated given their pleasurable interaction in Sickbay and her dream. Then why was her heart beating 3 more rapidly than normal? "I have not had the opportunity to review the database regarding human relationships," she offered, somewhat hesitantly. "So I am unsure as to the next appropriate action."

Meanwhile, Harry was stunned. If he was hearing this right, she was agreeing to a relationship with him.

"All senior staff report to the conference room." Tuvok's voice over the intraship communications system interrupted their conversation.

'No!' Kim's mind screamed. 'Five more minutes, I just need--'

"Perhaps we can discuss this later?" Seven asked, disappointed. She wanted to know what his response was but this was a personal conversation and being summoned to the conference room meant that this was no longer personal time.

Morosely, he nodded and followed her to the turbolift. Just his luck it would be a temporal anomaly and this whole incident would get wiped from everyone's memory. Standing beside the beautiful, blonde perfection in the lift, he muttered, "a date. Next we go on a date."

"That would be acceptable," she replied as she exited the turbolift.

...

A muffled scream broke Sassy's concentration. This section of the mountain was rocky with juts of sharp crags and deep clefts within the rock face. The four had rested a bit before picking their way up toward the caves. Turning back, two of the women were looking over a ledge.

Akala could only watch in horror as Tilki lost her balance and fell into the darkness below, listening to her screams of fear. Zathra was right behind her and neither of them could catch her in time. The stranger came and immediately figured out what had happened. 

Peering down the side of the mountain, Sassy could just make out where the third woman had landed approximately fifteen meters below. The woman was moving, trying to get up. It just didn't seem right to leave her down there like that, somehow she'd become the de facto leader of this group. It looked like a fairly routine climb down to where the woman lay. She motioned for the other two to stay put and swung herself over the ledge. "I'm just a college professor," she whimpered softly, inching her way down the face of the rock.

...

Everyone on the senior staff was at the table in the conference room except Janeway and Tuvok.

"Harry," Chakotay addressed the ensign while they waited. "Were there any interrupted communications from the surface during Alpha Shift?"

"No, sir."

They all turned to look as the door slid open. "What do we know?" Captain Janeway strode in briskly and immediately started the briefing.

Chakotay filled her in. "The Security Minister notified us that one of our crew members was abducted during a raid earlier today."  
  
"Who?"

"That is, apparently, still unknown." Tuvok had entered the room just as Janeway asked her question. Taking his seat, he explained. "All of the crew have reported back, no one is unaccounted for."

Neelix looked from the captain to the security chief as he voiced everyone's confusion. "Then what makes the Techans think that a member of Voyager's crew has been taken?"

"Minister Grisk received reports of a human female in the marketplace which was attacked," Tuvok replied.

"Where?" B'Elanna had a bad feeling about this.

Pulling up a sensor chart of Techora, the security chief zoomed the image in to focus on the capital city. "This market on the western outskirts of the capital."

Harry watched a curious mix of reactions cross the chief engineer's face. "Something wrong, B'Elanna?"

Not wanting to see the look on Chakotay's face, B'Elanna locked her gaze on the surface of the table. "It was just a joke, nothing was supposed to happen to her."

"Nothing was supposed to happen to who?" Janeway addressed Torres.

"I went back and scanned for her a couple of hours later but I couldn't locate any human readings so I figured she'd found her own way back."

Tom made the connection. "Sassy?"

The Klingon's response was a silent nod.

"Where is Sassy?" Chakotay didn't wait for an answer, accessing the computer instead. "Computer, locate Ceshlyta."

"Professor Ceshlyta is currently in her quarters."

"Her comm badge," B'Elanna clarified, still focusing on the table. "She was in the market that was raided."

Everyone flinched when Chakotay slammed his hands on the table. "YOU PUT HER ON THE PLANET BY HERSELF?" He rose from his chair and leaned over the table toward the chief engineer. "She's a civilian with no space travel experience and she's been unaccounted for, without communication ability, for over eight hours?"

"I never meant--" she started to explain.

"That doesn't do Sassy much good now, does it!" the first officer interrupted. "If anything's happened to her . . . "

Janeway put a restraining hand on his arm. "Tuvok, have Lieutenant Torres secured in the brig. We'll decide what to do with her once we've found our missing member."

"Let me help find her," B'Elanna requested as the door slid open to admit two security officers. "It's my fault she's missing, let me fix it."

"You've done enough." Chakotay's jaw twitched, the muscles tightly clenched in barely restrained fury. "Get out of my sight."

"Bridge to the captain." The exchange was overridden by a call from Ayala. The security officers quietly escorted Torres out of the conference room.

Watching her first officer sit back down, Janeway responded. "Go ahead."

"Minister Grisk is hailing with more information," the ensign informed her.

"Put him through."

The Starfleet symbol on the monitor was replaced by the image of the security minister sitting at his desk in the Ministry of Security. "Captain Janeway, may I once again offer my profuse condolences in your time of sorrow."

"What can you tell us about these raiders?" Janeway wasted no time on pleasantries.

Grisk hesitated before answering. "They're slavers, Captain. They strike randomly at all of the planets in this system, taking women but leaving behind the very young and the very old. It's been going on for generations."

"Where do they live?" Chakotay just wanted to find his wife.

"We don't know. Our ships are cargo and passenger vessels with a top speed of Warp 2--on a good day." The minister pointed out. "Their ships can do at least twice that. All of the planets in this system are inhabited and regular targets for the slavers so we have determined that they do not inhabit our system."

Tom had a question. "If it's been going on for so long, why haven't you just built faster ships?"

"Cost effectiveness," came the chilling reply. "They alternate planets, never hitting the same one twice in a row. A handful of women every few years just isn't worth the expense of designing or building a ship just to catch them."

"It's cheaper to be hunted, apparently." The Doctor's remark was only loud enough for the Voyager crew to hear.

Janeway shot a silencing glance to the EMH and addressed Minister Grisk. "Our ship is faster. What can you tell us about their vessel and when they would have left the area this morning."

"Don't waste your time, Captain." Grisk shook his head to emphasize his words. "They've been in the hands of the slavers for more than seven hours now."

"What's your point?" Chakotay's tone was short and clipped.

"They're the property of the slavers now," the Minister explained. "By now they've gotten to the next system and been marked and claimed; once that's done, the women are their legal property according to the laws of the other systems. Your own Starfleet rules, as your Commander Tuvok explained them, require you to abide by local law. By the property laws of any other system in this area, she is no longer a member of your crew. She'll probably be sold at auction in one of the neighboring systems at some point in the next few months."

"NO!" Chakotay's response was loud and immediate.

Janeway motioned for her first officer to calm down. "We are required to respect local laws but by your own admission she committed no crime. She was abducted against her will and the Federation has not recognized slavery for centuries. We will retrieve our missing crew member, Minister, with or without your help." Her tone left no room for discussion.

"Could I meet with the representatives from the other planets in this system?" Neelix jumped into his ambassadorial role. "Perhaps they have some information that could help."

Yielding to the inevitable, Grisk sighed. "I'll contact them and have all of their information on the slaver ship transmitted to you as well as all of our information." He reached forward on his desk and closed the transmission.

"We'll find her, Chakotay," Janeway assured him quietly. Addressing the rest of the staff, she began issuing orders. "Harry and Seven, review the sensor logs from this morning. Account for every ship within sensor range focusing on all traffic to and from the planet surface from 0700 to 1500. Plot probable courses for any ships leaving the area or even passing through the area. Neelix, you and Tom start meeting with the representatives from the other planets. They may be able to provide something not in the reports that might help. Tuvok, work with Minister Grisk to compile a report on these sl--raiders." She quickly corrected herself, thinking that Chakotay didn't need to hear the word slaver any more right then. "I want to know as much as possible about what we're dealing with."

"Is there anything I can do, Captain." The EMH hated feeling helpless.

"Work with Tom and Neelix," she advised. "Time is of the essence here, people. The faster we get this information together, the sooner we get Sassy back. Dismissed." As everyone filed out to get to their assignments, she studied her first officer. "I'd ask if you want to be excused but I know the answer to that already. Sassy needs clear heads right now, not rash emotions." It would probably make more sense to relieve him of duty, no doubt Tuvok with his Vulcan logic would recommend that she do just that. In her opinion, however, right now he needed to do something.

"I know."

"Then take the Bridge and coordinate everyone's efforts. I want options as soon as possible." Janeway stood. "I'll be in my ready room."

For a long moment Chakotay sat there in the empty room feeling more alone than he'd ever felt before. He turned his hand over and traced his wedding ring marking. "Aalm a aalm, seek and find," he whispered in the silence. "I'm coming, sweetheart, just hold on."

...

Letting go of her fingerhold, Sassy dropped down beside the injured woman. She had landed on a trail lower down that appeared to wind up and around the face of the mountain. Kneeling, she began skimming her hands along the other woman's body to check for broken bones and trying to be gentle over the scratches and fresh abrasions from the fall. The Techan was alert, that was a good sign. The bad news was her lower left leg--it was badly broken, the bone piercing the skin. Even though she knew that the other woman couldn't understand, she laid her hand on the woman's shoulder and reassured her. "I'll be right back. I need to find some sticks for a splint before I set this."

On this section of the trail, the treeline ended only a dozen or so meters back. Jogging the short distance, she reached the trees in no time and began looking for two short, sturdy and relatively straight sticks among the broken branches and twigs scattered on the ground. Cutting the sticks directly from the trees was an absolute last resort, she resolved. A large limb was lying at the base of one of the trees, probably felled by a storm. It would be dark within a couple of hours she guessed, judging by the patches of sky that she could see through the tree tops. Just in case Chakotay couldn't her by then, she should probably prepare to spend the night. Quickly gathering roots, herbs and some fruits that looked safe, she tied her belt around the tree section and pulled it along to the trail.

When she returned to the injured woman, she discovered that the other two Techans had found a way down and were sitting with their friend. Wasting no time, she set out the sticks for the splint and carefully cut strips from the bottom of the injured woman's dress for binding. None of the women looked like they had any clue as to what she was about to do. "Damn you, B'Elanna," Sassy muttered about the lack of communication.

Akala had been horrified at Tilki's injury when Zathra and she had arrived below. They were so far away from the medical clinics and no way to call for assistance. The stranger returned then, her pockets bulging and dragging a large tree limb behind her. From the gestures that the stranger made, it seemed like she was going to try to fix Tilki's leg and wanted them to hold her down. She nodded to Zathra and the two held tight, cringing as the stranger wrenched the leg viciously. Tilki screamed and struggled but the bone was no longer jutting out through the skin.

Sassy found the moss and medicinal herbs that she's collected among the other items in the pockets of her jumpsuit. Adding herbs to the moss, she laid the crude poultice on the jagged gash where the skin had been pierced. She tied it in place with a strip of cloth and applied the splint around the bandage. With the two Techans on each side helping the injured woman hobble along the trail, she scouted ahead and located a cave about an hours hike from where the woman had fallen. 

The sun was almost gone and Techora had no moon, so nighttime was pitch black. Working by feel, Sassy used the knife against the cave wall to spark the dry leaves from the tree limb that she'd piled up for tinder. In a short time she had a small fire going inside the cave. It was far enough back in the cave that it wouldn't blow out so she left and headed back down the trail to find the three women and lead them to the cave. Stars twinkled against the black canvas of space as they worked their way up to the soft glow of the fire that she'd started.

"Chakotay, mi aalm, where are you? I need you." The plea was whispered into the night before she turned her attention to emptying her pockets of the food and herbs that she'd collected. They needed to get the injured woman settled and all of them needed to eat, it had been a long day. If they were still here in the morning she'd have to erase their trail to the cave, find a water source and collect more food. She'd also have to find more of the moss and herbs for the poultice. "I'm just a college professor," she sighed.

...

"Any luck?" B'Elanna sprang from the cot when Tom entered.

Nodding to the security officer on duty, he excused the man to give them some privacy. "No, nothing yet. None of the delegates were able to tell us anything useful. We're going to have to chase down every ion trail in the area and hope we get lucky."

"Have you--?"

"What were you thinking? Do you hate her that much?" He hadn't been able to make sense of why she'd done this. He also hadn't been able to shake the feeling that it was all his fault for even suggesting that the two spend the day together. "Jor, Tabor and Henley have all been confined to quarters for their part in this."

"It was all my doing, they weren't responsible." She paced the length of her cell. "I didn't want anything to happen to her, I just wanted . . ."

"What?"

Frustration exploded. "I don't know!" Taking a deep breath, she continued. "She's just so . . . Sometimes I want to . . . I just don't like her."

Tom stood next to the forcefield separating them. "Why?"

"She's taking my place." She hated the petulant tone of her voice.

"You're an engineer, Voyager's best engineer, and she's a botanist. How can she be doing that?"

Plopping back down on the cot, she shrugged. "Not like that, I mean . . . on the ship, socially. Before she got here, next to Janeway I was the top woman on the ship; people came to me about things. Now SHE's having coffee and spending time on the holodeck with Janeway and calling her Kathryn, people go to the garden and talk to HER--even Harry went to HER for advice about something. And she's so simpering and omniscient about it." She did an exaggerated impersonation of Sassy. "All planets are merely bodies among the stars."

Tom wished that she'd told him this before he'd suggested their shore leave. "Was that when you decided to do this? When Harry thanked her?"

The Klingon silently nodded.

"B'Elanna, she's just trying to fit in, to make a life here." He held his hands out to forestall the outburst that he could see coming. "I'm not taking her side but I can't take your side either. Whether you meant it or not, Sassy is missing and in trouble. Chakotay's pretty upset and so is Janeway."

"Ensign Paris, report to the Bridge." Chakotay's voice came through his comm badge.

Tom had one parting comment. "Take it from an experienced troublemaker, think about what you did and why. Chakotay will want an answer and I don't think he'll like that one." Just as the door slid open, he turned back. "I love you, B'Elanna, no matter what."

She ignored the security officer who had unobtrusively returned to his post and laid down on the cot.

...

"Take the helm, Mr. Paris." Janeway had resumed command and, while Chakotay should have been resting,--he'd been up for close to thirty-six hours at this point--he was determinedly sitting at his post to her left. Tuvok and Harry also manned their usual stations.

"Do we have something to go on?" Tom quickly commandeered the pilot's chair.

Harry answered. "We've narrowed it down to eleven possibilities along four different vectors. One of those vectors leads deeper into this system and toward more populated areas so that's the least likely option. That still leaves us nine ships in three different direction. I'm sending you the first set of course coordinates now." His fingers danced across the console. "Four of the nine went in this general direction."

"Engage, warp six," the captain ordered.

"Yes, ma'am."

...

Sassy searched the night sky. "Chakotay, where are you?" She sat outside the cave in the darkness of the night. A soft glow emanated from the cave entrance a few meters behind her. Involuntarily the muscles of her mouth twitched, remembering the story Tom had told about the time that Chakotay hadn't been able to get a fire going. Score one for the Inihasa.

It had been a long day, but a productive one. She'd located a stream nearby with fronds on its bank large enough to bring water back for the injured woman. She had also located more of the herbs and moss necessary for changing the poultice. One of the other women had started to develop an infection in one of her scratches but Sassy was fairly sure that she had gotten to it in time. All day she'd been expecting to see Starfleet uniforms or the inside of a transporter room at any instant. Now, after night had fallen and still no rescue, she was exhausted. She felt like breaking down and having herself a good cry but there were three women in that cave who needed her to be strong.

"Akoochimoya, I am far from the sacred bones of my ancestors," she fingered her bracelet as she prayed. "But perhaps there is a benevolent spirit who will guide mi aalm in his efforts to find me." Sitting in the quiet blackness, she also sought answers. Should she stay put until she was found and rescued? Or should she head back down the mountain with the other women and risk getting caught in whatever conflict had begun in that marketplace? Maybe if she knew what had happened in the market she could make a better decision; but without being able to communicate with the locals, she was on her own.

...

"Leave." Chakotay stood in the doorway, staring intently at the prisoner in the cell as he spoke to the security officer on duty.

Ensign Molina fidgeted nervously. "I'm sorry, sir. I can't do that."

Turning his angry expression on the ensign, he barked. "That was an order."

"You're not to be left alone with Lieutenant Torres, Commander's Tuvok's orders."

"I outrank him," the first officer pointed out sharply.

"Yes, sir. Why don't I call him down here?" Molina definitely wanted some back-up.

Chakotay exhaled slowly. "Never mind." He walked over to stand in front of the cell.

"Have you found her yet?" B'Elanna asked softly. She could face just about anything except the silence of her friend and former captain.

"No," he shook his head never taking his gaze from her. "We've just wasted eight hours on a dead end and it'll take another six to alter course to run down the next possibilities."

She couldn't stand to see the coldness in his eyes any longer. She spun around and began meandering around her cell aimlessly. "I'm sorry, Chakotay."

"Why?"

The one word asked a multitude of questions and B'Elanna heard them all. "I never meant for anything like this to happen. I just wanted to rattle her, give her a life experience. I did try to beam her back after a couple of hours but she was gone by then. I figured that she'd found her own way back." She paused to sneak a glance at the stoic Indian. "Sassy's just . . . I don't think she's good enough for you. She's too weak and I thought if I showed her--and you . . . " There really wasn't any way to end that sentence since she'd never thought that far ahead. 

"So you were doing me a favor." His tone was icy flat.

Put like that it didn't sound right. "No," she sighed. "I was doing something stupid and impulsive. I don't like her and I let it get out of hand."

"What about Tabor, Jor and Henley?" He hadn't talked to them yet.

"They thought it was a practical joke. Mariah wasn't really comfortable with it but all they did was keep their mouths shut. I reprogrammed the transporter and set everything up." There was no point in getting the other three in trouble too.

Chakotay almost wished that the others had played a more active part in all of this; it would have been less of a betrayal somehow. "They conspired to place a civilian from this ship in danger. They'll be disciplined appropriately."

B'Elanna couldn't bring herself to ask about her punishment.

"You'll remain in the brig until we find Sassy. Once we've got her back, we'll decide how to deal with you." He wanted to deal with her now, but the captain had convinced him to wait. "She's my heart, my soul." His voice cracked.

"It was just a joke," she whispered.

He spun sharply on his heel to leave. "It wasn't funny."

...

Sassy reached the wooded grove that she'd discovered the day before. She was starting to worry about Voyager. It shouldn't have taken them a day and a half from when they discovered her missing to find her and yet this was their third day in the mountains. Maybe there was something in the planet's geology that was interfering with their sensors. At least the injured woman was doing all right. The poultice was helping with the pain and preventing infection, there'd been no fever or pus from the wound. A small animal crossed between a couple of trees just in front of her. She'd thought about doing some hunting the day before and had even found some supple wood that would make a perfect bow and arrows with her bootlace for a bowstring. Her maternal grandfather had taken all of the kids in her family, at different times, down to the jungles on Earth to teach them the old ways-- survival, hunting and respect for nature's beauty and danger. As soon as she'd started working on the bow, an image of the man she'd impaled with that crude spear in the marketplace had flashed across her mind. Nausea turned her stomach and she'd flung the wood into the fire. They could survive on a vegetarian diet until they were rescued, assuming that they hadn't given her up for dead and left orbit. Maybe, she surmised, digging up some tubers at the base of a large, old tree, something had happened to B'Elanna and they don't know what happened to me. Something had better have happened to that Klingon bitch or something would happen if and when she got back to Voyager. Stabbing the knife into the ground, she decided that they'd start back down the mountain the next day. It would probably take them a couple of days to make it back to the city because of the injured woman.

She was so engrossed in her thoughts that it was a complete shock to feel someone grab her left shoulder tightly and bark out something unintelligible. She'd forgotten about their pursuers! The knife was in her right hand and she twisted to her left, intending to slash his thigh. Unfortunately, her move threw the man off balance and, instead of her original target, the knife drove into the bulge at the juncture of his thighs. To judge by the high-pitched squeal that he let out, his kind must be fairly physiologically similar to human males. She jerked the knife free and the raider dropped to the ground holding himself and whimpering. She wiped the blade clean on his pants and slid the knife into her boot.

Frantically, she stuffed the tubers into her pockets and gathered the moss and herbs that she needed to change the poultice. She was out of breath when she finally reached the relative safety of the cave. The three Techans eyed her hesitantly when she entered and she glanced down to see bloodstains along her right sleeve and across the front of her jumpsuit. Too shaken and tired to even attempt an explanation in the cross between sign language and charades that they'd been communicating with, Sassy just slumped down against the wall of the cave. "I'm a college professor," she mumbled, tears blurring her vision.

...

The garden was silent and dark at the early morning hour. The lights were programmed to a twenty-four hour cycle and would begin increasing the lighting in a few hours. Chakotay wandered through the maze of trees, plants and flowers. He had been in the garden at the beginning of the daytime cycle a few times. It almost looked like a sunrise with reddish-orange light rising slowly and brightening gradually to a sunlight ambience. Thinking back to the crude hydroponics bay that they had before Sassy came, it was hard to believe how much she brought to the ship--to his life.

There was a PADD sitting on her workbench and he picked it up, scanning the information that it displayed. Notes from several crewmembers were there, detailing the chores that they had completed in the garden. People were coming in on their own time to take care of Sassy's garden in her absence. He set the PADD back down, tracing over the display screen in unspoken gratitude to those individuals listed. He wondered where she was, what was happening to her. The image of his soulmate, stripped, beaten and bound while those animals--

His fist pounded the workbench as he forced his thoughts away from that gruesome picture. Instead, he focused on a memory of her wild and unrestrained. The first of many times that they'd gone horseback riding together. He'd met her in the holodeck expecting an afternoon of riding horses and a picnic lunch. Sitting down on a bench in the garden, he let his mind wander.

"Chakotay."

Lost in his reverie, he hadn't heard the door to the garden slide open.

"I thought I sent you to your quarters." Janeway had gone to give him an update and discovered that he wasn't there.

Starting to rise from the bench, he sat back down at her gesture and motioned for her to join him. "Actually, you relieved me of duty."

"You need to rest," she urged, worried about her first officer.

Chakotay rubbed his face briskly with his hands. "How can someone who's been part of my life for such a short time make those quarters feel so empty with her absence?"

Yet another time that she wished for a ship's counselor. "We got a message from Techora, they were able to eliminate the question of two of the ships, that leaves us three probables and two possibles. That should cut a few hours off the search."

"How soon?"

"We should intercept our next target in about three hours." Interpreting his question, she gave the latest ETA.

He stared at the strawberry patch in front of him. "I never said goodbye, I didn't even kiss her before I walked away from her that morning."

She didn't know how to respond to that. If they ever got back to the Alpha Quadrant, her first recommendation would be mandatory psychology courses for all command level officers.

"It's all my fault," he sighed.

Turning to him, Janeway put her hand on his shoulder. "How can you even think that?"

"I've been pushing Sassy and B'Elanna together since she got here, including the shore leave on Techora together. She wasn't planning to leave the ship without me." He had been mentally castigating himself for that since her absence had been discovered. "Of course, if it weren't for me, she wouldn't be here anyway. I left my path to pursue vengeance, that's how I got here. She doesn't deserve this life."

"She's very happy here," Kathryn spoke from experience after spending long hours in Sassy's company over coffee, herb teas and holonovels. She, too, was concerned about the loss of a woman who had become her only real friend on a ship full of subordinates.

"It's only recently that she's been able to have the viewports open without feeling uncomfortable," he pointed out. "She's never lived aboard a ship before."

"We'll find her," Janeway wished that she felt as certain about that as she tried to sound.

Chakotay turned his palm over to eye his wedding rings. "But what they're doing to her . . . she's been so sheltered her whole life. She's a college professor, she won't be able to handle it."

Kathryn forced his eyes to meet hers. "Then she'll need us to help her."

"I pulled up her listing on the ship's roster," he strayed from the subject. "There's no record of our marriage. If I lose her now--"

"You won't."

"If we can't find her," he reiterated. "Officially our union would never have existed. None of what we have would have been real."

She had never considered their marital status. When Sassy had come aboard, appearing in Chakotay's quarters with a matching mark of intertwined circles from their ethereal wedding, it had just been accepted that they were husband and wife. He was right, though; without witnesses or any documentation, there couldn't be an official record of their marriage in the ship's log. "What the two of you feel for each other is real, an entry in a log can't change that."

Searching the face of his friend and captain, he went on. "If--when we get Sassy back, I want an official wedding with witnesses and everything. Would you perform the ceremony?"

Kathryn had never seen her first officer as happy and content in their first four years together as he'd been since Ceshlyta had been in his life. "I'd be honored."

Chakotay nodded, managing a brief smile, and returned to his contemplation of the ripening strawberries, still slightly green.

"But first," Janeway stood. "We have to find the bride and you," she leveled her gaze at him. "You have to get some sleep, even if I have to get the Doctor to sedate you. Am I clear?"

"Yes, ma'am." He rose from the bench and followed her out of the garden. "Kathryn," he stopped her before the door opened. "Thank you."

"It's not often I get to give fate a helping hand," she noted, exiting the garden.

...

Sassy tested the bindings on the makeshift travois one last time. She wanted to get an early start down the mountainside, although it would take them the better part of two days to travel the distance they'd covered in a matter of hours in their flight from the market. In her pocket were a couple of rocks with flint-like qualities--she never thought she'd have ever needed the geology/mineralogy course she'd taken as a college freshman. Her other pockets were stuffed with herbs for the medicinal poultices and some tubers and roots for food in case they were forced to camp in areas with limited foraging. Convinced that she was as ready as she'd ever be, she woke the other women and put out the fire, scattering the ashes.

Three days on this mountain and beginning a fourth, she tried to not think about what it meant that Chakotay still hadn't come for her. What would she do if Voyager had left orbit and abandoned her on this planet? She gazed wistfully at her wedding bands on the palm of her hand, at least she had their marriage and the memory of their time together. No matter what happened, nothing could ever take that away.

Shaking herself back to the moment, she motioned for the two Techan women to help her move the injured woman onto the travois. It had taken hours the previous night to explain that she wanted to go back down the mountain and how they would get the woman with the broken leg down the mountain with them. Carefully sliding her over, she checked to make sure the woman was comfortable and gestured for her two friends to grab the litter. She picked her way down in front of them, seeking a path that would jostle the injured woman as little as possible. She would scout ahead as much as possible for places that they could stop, rest and change places at the front of the travois. The grove that they had stopped at in their panicked flight before would make a good place to stop for the night once they got there.

Briefly, she remembered the last time that she'd been lost in the wilderness. Well, not lost really, she'd gotten separated from the rest of her party during a sabbatical studying endangered plants in the jungles of Central America. She'd taken shelter in the ruins of an abandoned village, made camp and settled in to wait out an unusual storm. Instead, she'd gotten married at the temple of the Sky Spirits and ended up on a starship in the Delta Quadrant. Her life was a far cry from the simple existence of the Professor of Botanical Sciences for the Ohio State University that she once lived.

...

"According to the sensors, the ship that traveled along this course, most likely landed on the class M planet approximately two light-years away," Harry announced from ops.

Chakotay perched forward in his chair. Four days, four agonizing, frustrating days since Sassy had disappeared. This had to be it, this ship had to be the one that had taken her. After some fitful hours of sleep and a hot meal, Kathryn had relented and allowed him to return to duty. "Life signs?"

"Unable to scan, sensors are detecting one settlement but they've got some sort of energy field around the entire site."

Janeway emerged from her ready room during their exchange. "Let's have a chat with them. Hail them."

"Captain," Tuvok interrupted from the security console. "If they are involved in the commerce of females, perhaps our conversation would be more efficacious if you were not part of the discussion. No disrespect intended."

The Captain turned to her security chief. "A Vulcan suggesting deception? Tuvok, I'm impressed." She nodded to her first officer. "Can you handle this?" Her look held a myriad of unspoken concerns.

Steeling himself, Chakotay stood resolutely. 

After a brief delay, Kim nodded to the captain. "They're responding."

As Janeway moved back into the shadows, the commander took charge. "On screen." When the alien captain's face filled the viewscreen, he adjusted his uniform jacket and introduced himself. "I am Commander Chakotay of the Federation Starship Voyager."

"Korl." 

When no other information was forthcoming, he surged forward. "I'm looking for a woman. I understand that you might be able to help me."

"Well, we don't normally do private sales, but for the right price we may be able to work something out. I'll have the barrier lowered so that you can come down to look over the merchandise. It'll just take a few minutes." The viewscreen suddenly went black.

"He cut the transmission at his end," Harry explained.

Janeway was already working at one of the secondary consoles on the bridge. "As soon as he lowers that shield, Harry, give me a full sensor sweep of the base. Tuvok, locate their shield generator and analyze options for disabling it."

Chakotay was already heading for the turbolift. "He's invited us down. Tuvok, I'll need a couple of male security officers to meet me in Transporter Room One."

Exchanging glances with the captain, Tuvok motioned for another security officer to take his place and removed a phaser from the console. "Mr. Paris and I will accompany you."

Tom was out of his seat in a flash. "I'll run by Sickbay and pick up a medkit and meet you in the transporter room."

A short while later, they materialized in the center of the compound on the planet. Chakotay looked around, noting the arrangement of the buildings and defensive capabilities. The alien who had answered their earlier hail was walking toward them with two other males. Nobody seemed to be paying them much attention, but the ones who looked to be on sentry duty did take note of their numbers and weapons. There were women from more than a half dozen different races chained to posts ringing the compound. Surreptitiously, he searched every face hoping that he'd find Sassy but not wanting to see her in such a condition.

On Voyager, Janeway listened to every sound from the surface. The away team had an open comm link so that if there was any trouble, they could be retrieved.

"The energy field went back up as soon as they appeared," Harry reported. "It doesn't seem to interfere with our communications." He sighed in disappointment. "There were no human lifesigns detected while the barrier was down."

"At the first sign of trouble," she commanded the officer manning the security station. "Target their shield generator and fire phasers."

Down on the surface, Korl bowed in greeting to the strangers. "Commander . . . Chakotay, I believe."

"Yes."

The slaver gestured around. "Do you see anything you like?"

"The Commander's tastes are very unique," Tom spoke up quickly. "Perhaps a private place to discuss the specifics?"

"Of course, come with me." Korl led them across the compound to his private residence.

Alone with the slaver, the images of what those women had been through haunted Chakotay's thoughts.

"Now, what did you have in mind?" The slaver brought out the catalog of their current inventory.

"You raided a planet in the Quel-car system approximately a week ago. Where is the human female you captured there?" Tuvok wasted no time with pleasantries or subterfuge. He gestured silently to Tom who slipped over to the door to guard it, his phaser drawn.

"How dare you make such accusations," Korl spluttered, standing. "This is a legitimate business operation. You have no right--"

His indignation was cut short by a massive fist connecting with his jaw. Reeling back, he stumbled and fell but was hauled back to his feet by an enraged Indian. Chakotay held the hapless slaver by a fistful of his shirt in his left hand.

"Where is she?" he roared. "What have you done to my wife?"

Without waiting for an answer, he slammed the man against a nearby wall. Visions of Sassy in the same condition or even worse than those women he'd seen outside drove his rage as he pummeled the man's face over and over with his fist.

"You filthy animal, where is my wife? Where is she?"

Korl's face was bleeding in numerous places and broken in a few before Tuvok managed to pull Chakotay off of him.

"I would advise you to provide the information that the commander desires," Tuvok pointed out to the slaver. "If you would rather discuss this with him further, I can certainly release him." The Vulcan's tone was matter-of-fact.

"She's not here!" Korl yelled, spitting blood and teeth.

"Where?" Chakotay roared again, struggling against the hands holding him.

"The stranger on Techora, she escaped into the mountains. I sent some of my men after her but they haven't returned yet." One woman was not worth his life, regardless of what she'd done. "They should be on their way by now."

"Tuvok to Voyager."

"We heard," Janeway confirmed. "I'll have Seven boost the long range sensors to see if their ship is within sensor range yet."

Chakotay had calmed down enough to pick up on something that the slaver had said. "Captain, Chakotay here. Sassy's a botanist and she was raised on the old traditions of our people. If she got into the mountains, she'd have an advantage. She may have been able to evade the men chasing her."

The same thing had just occurred to the captain. Why hadn't she ordered a planet-wide sensor sweep for human life signs before breaking orbit? "It's not really our business but I don't like the idea of leaving those women down there under those conditions. We'll contact some of the governments from the Quel-car system and see if any of them are interested in the whereabouts of this place. It's the least we can do. In the meantime, I'll send a security team down to your coordinates. You and Tom take the Flyer back to Techora to look for Sassy while we take care of things here. If you locate her, contact us; otherwise, we'll set course to join you as soon as we can."

During the exchange, Paris had located some controls for the energy field and disengaged it.

"Acknowledged." Two security officers materialized in the room and shortly after that, Tom and he were enveloped in the shimmering of a transporter beam.

...

She knew something was wrong as she approached the campsite, there was a male voice talking softly in an indecipherable language. She had been gone about an hour scouting ahead and gathering some food. Approaching cautiously, she tried to figure out how many there were. She found a melon-sized rock on the ground and slipped it into her jumpsuit before quietly climbing into a tree near the glade. 

There were two of them, one about four meters away and one a scant meter from the tree she was perched in. They hadn't heard her coming, both men were relaxed and apparently taunting the women judging by their sobs. Pulling out the rock that she had picked up, she held it over her head with both hands and slammed it down, aiming for the nearest raider. As he collapsed to the ground, the other man came over to investigate. Sassy jumped from the tree to land on the raider and began pummeling him on the head and shoulders with the hilt of the knife. "I'm a college professor of botanical sciences," she yelled, punctuating each word with a blow. The impacts barely fazed him. He managed to grab her left arm and jerked on it, trying to pull her off.

Struggling to maintain her balance, desperation finally won and she used the blade of the knife to slit the man's throat. Blood sprayed out everywhere for what felt like an eternity before he slumped to the ground. Scrambling away, she sat, trembling, against the trunk of a nearby tree for a long time. Eventually she roused herself to check on the man she'd hit with the stone. What she saw made her gag. The rock had caved in his skull.

"I'm a college professor," she tried to explain to the two corpses and the three women staring at her in horror. "I study plants and trees and flowers and other botanical life forms." Tears streamed down her face as she rocked back and forth willing herself to wake up from this nightmare.

'Necessity is the mother of invention.' Her mother's favorite adage urged her out of her shock. She slowly rose to her feet and went to wash the blood off of her hands in the nearby stream. Necessity, she decided, is a bitch.

...

"Time to reach Techora?" Chakotay completed the last of the systems checks. Neither Tom nor he had been inclined to spend time on pre-flight before they had launched. They'd checked the basic systems first and launched the Delta Flyer, setting course for the Quel-car system while the first officer completed the pre-flight checks.

Tom checked the navigational sensors. "At current speed, it'll take us about ten hours."

"I'm putting the sensors at maximum output. If those men that Korl left behind to hunt her has caught her, they'll have to pass somewhere near here enroute to their base."

"Chakotay, about B'Elanna." Paris wasn't really sure what to say, but he had to say something. "There was no way she could have foreseen this happening. She didn't think there was any danger, just a harmless prank."

Logically he knew that, he didn't need the pilot to point it out. In his heart, however, all he knew was that the woman who made him feel complete was gone and B'Elanna was the reason. "We're in a quadrant of space where no Federation ships have gone before. Our being here is an unforeseen circumstance; everything that happens to us is unforeseen. People need to realize that and stop acting as if this were just a three hour tour."

"Everyone does understand that," Tom offered. "You know that B'Elanna would never do anything to hurt you. She may not be fond of Sassy but she knows that you are. You can't think that B'Elanna would ever intentionally . . . "

"I know." But if they didn't find Sassy, he wasn't sure he would ever be able to forgive the Klingon.

...

She was numb. Her body was going through all of the motions, but her mind was still in shock. Something had to be done with the bodies, they couldn't just be left to the wild animals no matter what kind of men they were. Without knowing what their particular beliefs regarding death were, all she could do was to take care of the bodies according to her beliefs. Digging graves with nothing but a knife was impractical so she built two funeral pyres a distance from the glade that they had camped in. The Techan women had just sat silently, staring as she dragged the bodies one at a time and placed them on the pyres. The whole time that she spent gathering wood and clearing an open area for the fires, she sobbed freely. It took forever to get the fires lit and burning strongly enough to completely incinerate the corpses but even then it didn't seemed right to just walk away. She forced herself to watch as the bodies of the men whom she had killed were licked by the flames. Waiting for the fire to burn away the blood from her hands, she sought strength from her own spirituality. The parting ritual wasn't appropriate since she hadn't known them, so she offered a simple prayer that their souls travel in peace through whatever afterlife they believed in. As horrible as she felt at that moment, she couldn't help but wonder where the third man, the one she had stabbed a few days earlier, was. Would she have to kill him as well? Or had the stab wound that she'd inflicted on him already been fatal? 

Nothing would make her regret her choice to travel to her soulmate along a new path but at that moment she was thinking wistfully of the familiar security of her classroom and lab back on Earth. 

...

"I've got human life signs," Chakotay informed Tom as the pilot entered orbit around Techora. "It's Sassy, I'm picking up the silver and gemstones from her bracelet."

Paris set the autopilot to maintain orbital integrity. "I'll send a message to Voyager, let them know."

"There are three other people with her, Techan from the readings." The first officer took out two phasers and tossed one to Tom. "You'd better grab a medkit too." While the pilot and chief medic went to the back to retrieve an emergency medical kit, Chakotay set the transporter coordinates.

The control panel beeped and Paris stopped at a secondary panel to check the readings. "It's Voyager, they've received the transmission and are already enroute. They should arrive in a little over nine hours."

"I've set the transporter to put us down about five hundred meters from Sassy. It's night on the planet so we'll have some cover." He handed Tom a wrist light. "Let's go."

Down on the planet, Sassy was sitting against the trunk of a tree and staring up at the sky wondering if Chakotay was looking out of a viewport at the same stars. The knife had become a permanent resident of her hand, always at the ready in case there were more of them. They had camped in the clearing, none of them eager to do any more traveling after the earlier horror. The funeral pyres had burned themselves out a short while ago. All she wanted to do was to get home, back to Voyager and Chakotay's strong arms. Tears blurred her vision and she closed her eyes, picturing him. When he smiled, his dark eyes sparkled and the precious dimples in his cheeks gave him a boyish quality. His warm embrace made all of the loneliness and awkwardness of adjusting to her new life melt away. She could almost feel his fingers combing through her hair and telling her that everything was all right.

Chakotay and Tom approached the campsite quietly, the fire a clear beacon in the darkness. Using the tricorder, the first officer motioned to Paris. "The Techans are laying on the ground near the fire," he whispered. "Sassy is sitting against a tree on the east side of the clearing." They split up, Tom approaching the campsite from the west and Chakotay circling around to enter the clearing as close to Sassy as possible.

She should probably try to sleep but every time she closed her eyes, she saw dead bodies piling up in front of her. There was too much fear and turmoil in her mind to allow her to meditate much less achieve the Zen state to speak to her spirit guide. Nevertheless, she attempted to slow her breathing in an attempt to find some semblance of inner peace. Without warning, a large hand clamped over her mouth. She squealed in terror, the hand holding the knife was pinned by the muscular body beside her.

"Shhh," Chakotay tried to calm her. He put his phaser down and drew her behind the tree that she was leaning against. Leaving her there, he found his phaser and provided cover for Tom who entered the clearing yelling for the Techans to stay where they where.

A brief glimpse of the wonderfully rugged, handsome face was all Ceshlyta needed to know that her husband had finally come for her. Slipping the knife into her boot, she leapt up and threw herself into his arms. "Mi aalm, Spirits but I was starting to think I'd never see you again."

"She all right, Chakotay?" Tom kept a wary eye on the three forms in the middle of the clearing as he called across to the commander.

For a long moment, the first officer couldn't answer. His mouth was seeking and claiming the soft, full lips of his wife, his tongue reacquainting itself with the moist warmth of her mouth. One arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her luscious curves against his body. Eventually, he reluctantly broke the kiss when his lungs demanded air.

"I'm okay, Tom," Sassy answered, still a little breathless. "But the women could use some medical attention. One of them has a broken leg and some of their scratches have been trying to develop infections. I've been treating them the best I could with herbs and poultices."

"Women?" Chakotay lowered his weapon. "They're not part of the raiding force?"

She couldn't bring herself to tell him about the men whom she had killed. She dreaded the look that would cross his face when she told him how she'd violently ended the lives of others. For the time being, she just concentrated on the immediate necessities. "No, they escaped from the marketplace with me. We've been hiding here in the mountains. I didn't know what was going on or who any of them were."

"I've got a compound fracture here," Tom had put his phaser away and was running the medical tricorder over the women. "It's okay, I'm Tom Paris and that's Commander Chakotay from the Federation Starship Voyager. We're here to help. I'm going to do what I can for you until our ship gets here with our doctor." Soothing the frightened women, he prepared a hypospray of painkiller for the woman with the broken leg.

"Should we beam everyone back to the Flyer and meet Voyager?" The first officer loosened his grip on Sassy, but didn't release her. He wasn't quite ready to let go of her after agonizing so long over whether or not he'd ever see her again.

The medic pondered the timetable. If they left orbit to intercept Voyager, they'd get medical attention only a few hours sooner. They were reasonably comfortable at this campsite and none of their injuries were life threatening. It would probably be just as easy, certainly less traumatic, on the local women if they remained here. "No, we'll need a few things from the Flyer, but we can wait here."

"I am Akala," finally able to understand what was being said, she took the opportunity to make introductions. "The woman you are treating is Tilki and the other woman is Zathra. Your friend over there saved us from the raiders and has been taking care of us here in the mountains."

"My name is Ceshlyta, but most people call me Sassy." It was nice to know the names of the women she had spent the past week with. Firmly clasping her husband's hand, she walked over to them.

"How is it that we can understand each other now?" Zathra was curious.

Chakotay pointed to his comm badge. "Universal translators are built into our communications devices."

"I was beamed down to the planet without my comm badge." Sassy put in. "Speaking of which, where's B'Elanna?"

"She's been in the brig since we discovered you missing," the commander informed his wife. Closer to the fire, the light clearly showed bloodstains all over the front of her jumpsuit and smears of dried blood on her hands, face and throat amidst smudges of dirt. "You're hurt. Tom, Sassy's bleeding."

"It's not mine, well most of it isn't," she waved Paris off when he opened the medical tricorder.

Rising, the medic approached her and began scanning her anyway. "Humor me." He snapped the tricorder shut and reassured his commanding officer. "Just scratches on her hands mostly, mild shock, a few bruises here and there, same as Akala and Zathra. I can fix the scratches with a dermal regenerator but Tilki's broken leg will have to wait for the Doc."

"Water," now that she knew everything would be all right, she could feel herself losing control. If she didn't keep busy she'd break into hysterics. "There's a stream not too far away. If you've got something to carry water in, I can--"

"Sit down," Chakotay admonished her. "I'll find it and bring some water back if you're thirsty." He toyed with her braid, tendrils of hair escaping all along its length after a week in the wilderness. "You've had a long week and you're exhausted. Let me take care of you." He shrugged out of his jacket and wrapped it around her. "Sit over by the fire and relax. Tom can beam back up to the Flyer and bring food and blankets down. I'll get some water."

Sassy didn't remember falling asleep, but she must have. She was standing in a field, dead bodies piled up all around her and covered in their blood. Chakotay was approaching her, wearing the outfit he had worn at their wedding. The look of horror on his face was unmistakable. There weren't any words to explain to him. . .

"Sweetheart, Voyager's here," he helped her to her feet, reluctant to see the time end. He'd been just watching her sleep, her features illuminated by the light of the fire. The feeling of relief when his beautiful wife had thrown herself into his arms, safe and sound, was indescribable. "Tom beamed up to the Flyer to land it back in the shuttle bay. They're going to beam you and the women directly to Sickbay. I'm going to report in to Kathryn and then I'll come down to Sickbay to take you home."

"But--" Sassy didn't get to finish her objection because a transporter beam enveloped her and the Techans. 

Back aboard Voyager, Tom entered Sickbay just as the women materialized. 

"Mr. Paris, report." The Doctor was already putting the women on biobeds and beginning his scans.

"Tilki, the one with the splint on her leg, has a compound fracture of her lower leg. Sassy set it and has been using an herbal poultice for the pain and infection. I've given her two doses of painkiller. The rest of them just have contusions and abrasions. I've started using the dermal regenerator on the worst of them." The medic picked up a dermal regenerator to continue working.

"What, no leeches readily available?" The EMH grimaced as he peeled away the moss and unbound the splint. "I'll have to disinfect this before I get started with the osteo-regenerator." 

Sassy bit back her comment even though tears stung her eyes; she had handled everything the best she could. It wasn't her fault, she hadn't asked to be stranded on that planet. 

"Where do you think you're going?" The Doctor noticed the botanist leaving.

She ignored the EMH and stopped at a computer interface station outside of Sickbay. "Locate Lieutenant Torres." She'd been through hell for the past week, taken three lives by her own hand and seriously injured other men. All because of that Klingon. Clutching the knife that had become so important to her safety, she erupted from the turbolift when it stopped on the Bridge.

"Sassy," Harry was startled by her sudden appearance. "I'm glad you're back."

She spared a quick nod of acknowledgement before heading toward Kathryn's ready room.

"Do you want me to let them know you're out here?" 'Apparently not,' the ensign thought to himself as he watched her storm off the Bridge.

...

". . . carelessly and with no thought to any consequences, you put a civilian in danger without any ability to call for help." Captain Janeway was lecturing Torres on the error of her ways. "You are a command officer and, quite frankly, I expect better than that. What should I do about this?"

Her disciplinary action was interrupted. "You bitch!" Sassy yelled, spotting her quarry. Her momentum carried her across the room and before anyone had a chance to react, she landed a solid punch to the engineer's jaw. Watching the Klingon fall to the floor, she flipped the knife from the hand she had just punched with to her left hand--blade up. Her right hand was broken, that she could tell, but she was too angry to let that stop her. "Do you have any idea what I've been through because of you?"

Chakotay moved quickly to put himself between the two women. He knew Ceshlyta was upset but he didn't want her to do anything she'd regret later. "An angry word is like striking with a knife." He immediately cringed at his choice of wisdoms given the large dagger that his angry wife was brandishing.

Watching B'Elanna pick herself up, still holding her face, Sassy replied. "Speak softly but arm yourself well."

"Do not seek trouble, it will find you in its own time." That was better, although he didn't have time to congratulate himself as she came right back.

"When you see a rattlesnake poised to strike, strike first." Unfortunately, her well-meaning husband was preventing her from getting in another shot. She didn't want to risk hurting him.

"Knowledge cannot be gained through conquest but by understanding." Chakotay countered with, trying not to think about what would happen if he lost this round.

She shook her head, shrugging her shoulders as she waved the knife. "One must learn from the bite of the fire to leave it alone."

He held his hands up warningly. "The greatest strength is gentleness."

Taunting B'Elanna who was standing silently behind the first officer, Sassy almost sneered. "It is easy to be brave from a safe distance."

Her barb had the desired effect, Torres screeched and launched herself at the other woman. As Chakotay held the two women apart, he shot back, "In anger a man becomes dangerous not only to others but himself."

Wishing he would just shut up and get out of the way so she could kill the conniving bitch who got her into that whole mess to start with, Sassy threw back, "The way of the troublemaker is thorny."

"No one else can represent your conscience." Maybe he could keep her exchanging proverbs long enough for her to calm down. 

B'Elanna was still trying to get at Ceshlyta, blood trickling down her chin.

Kathryn came around the desk and restrained the chief engineer. 

Her husband's last comment hit closer to home than he realized. "Show respect for all but grovel to none." Sassy really wasn't in the mood for this and tried to slip past Chakotay to finish the fight. Her wrist was caught in an iron grip as he intercepted her.

"If a man is as wise as a serpent, he can afford to be as harmless as a mouse," he offered calmly, not releasing his grip.

The man was trying her patience, but she couldn't bring herself to hurt him. "Even the small mouse has anger."

"The mightiest beast cannot survive anger's poison."

Glaring over his shoulder at the Klingon fighting against the Captain's grip, she bit out. "Only two relationships are possible--to be a friend or to be an enemy."

"She who wears the captain's pips has the last word--Enough!" Janeway decided to end the exchange. She shot a glare at B'Elanna who immediately stopped fighting. She understood that Ceshlyta was furious and had every right to be but she couldn't allow physical violence on her ship. "We were just discussing Lieutenant Torres' punishment for her actions. I was going to assign her to work duty shifts in the garden but now I'm not so sure."

Still breathing heavily, Sassy relaxed in her husband's grasp. She nodded, somewhat reluctantly, her capitulation and he released her. The right hand was definitely broken, as the adrenaline began to wear off she could feel sharp, throbbing agony working its way up her arm.

"Regardless of provocation, Sassy, you cannot attack members of my crew. If you were part of my crew, I'd put you in the brig for fighting." Kathryn contemplated the situation. "I'm inclined to leave the decision up to the two of you. Professor Ceshlyta, what would you consider a fair punishment for B'Elanna with regards to stranding you on that planet alone? Lieutenant Torres, what would you consider a fair punishment for Sassy for punching you?"

The two women exchanged long, angry stares. Stepping back from Chakotay slightly, Ceshlyta flung the knife across the room, burying it in the control panel by the door to activate it. As the door slid open, she spoke up. "I'm done. It's over."

Startled and silently impressed with the throw, Janeway looked to B'Elanna who nodded in agreement, not able to answer because of her jaw. "All right then, the matter is closed. Any further problems between the two of you, I will resolve. Am I understood?" After the two women acknowledged her, she looked at her first officer. "I'm going to escort B'Elanna to Sickbay so the Doctor can examine her face. I'll leave you to finish up here and follow in a few minutes since it doesn't appear that your wife waited for the Doctor to treat her much less check her out after her time on the planet and I think she may have injured her hand anyway."

Once the other two had gone, Chakotay strode over to retrieve the knife. "Not that I condone it but nice throw. Where'd you learn to do that?"

"Lucky shot," she shrugged, still breathing heavily. "My sister and I used to throw for chores, the loser did the winner's chores in addition to her own. It was good incentive for accuracy."

"The zoologist?" He made a mental note to have maintenance repair the panel.

"Surgeon."

Chuckling, he crossed back to stand in front of her and gazed down into her impossibly soft, brown eyes.

Before her husband had a chance to speak, Sassy blurted out, "I'm sorry. I know she's your friend and I probably haven't helped her feelings for me any but she put me down there--helpless--on purpose."

"Somehow I don't think you're ever helpless," Chakotay muttered in admiration.

Stroking his cheek softly, she continued. "I didn't want you to get caught in the middle of this," her voice rose as she completed the sentence, "but she almost got me killed! I know, she never intended for this to happen--let me guess, it was just supposed to be a joke. She sent me to an alien world without any means of communicating with them much less Voyager; what did she think would happen?" She took a quick breath and jumped back in. "I know she doesn't like me, she's made no secret of that, but she went too far. I admit that I've baited her in the past, I just never dreamed things would get so . . . "

"Why didn't you tell me about this before?" He had been silently cursing himself for days, remembering all of the times he'd thrown the two together, the double dates that Paris and he had spent duty shifts planning.

Tears brimmed her eyes. "I figured she'd warm up to me eventually, especially when she saw how happy you were. That's not happening. I don't want you to fight my battles for me, I can hold my own for the most part. It's just that B'Elanna's a lot tougher than I am. I'm just a college professor in botanical sciences, she's a half-Klingon former resistance fighter and she's playing for keeps. Before my little adventure on that planet, I'd never even been in a real fight outside of tournaments, now I've killed three men." The tally of dead just slipped out, a bare whisper. "I don't think I could beat her in a serious fight."

"You were giving it a pretty good try a few minutes ago," Chakotay noted dryly. That explained her behavior earlier, he still remembered the first time he'd been forced by circumstances to kill. He wished that she'd told him on the planet about the men she'd killed. If she had, he'd have left B'Elanna's discipline to the captain rather than leave her alone.

"I was upset, mad, tired, sore and scared; besides, I think her jaw broke my hand." She cradled the injured hand gingerly against her chest.

"If it's any consolation, I think your hand broke her jaw," he offered. Reaching out, he tilted her chin up. "In the future, if you're having problems with a member of this crew I want you to come to me, okay?"

Sassy relaxed into the welcome warmth of his embrace. "The Doctor is a pain in the--"

"He's not programmed for violence," Chakotay interrupted, "just annoyance. Speaking of which, let's get you back to Sickbay."

"Oh goody," but she allowed him to lead her out of the ready room.

...

"B'Elanna, what happened?" Tom hurriedly finished treating the last of Akala's scratches when the captain brought Torres in bleeding from her mouth.

Janeway helped the Klingon onto a biobed. "She had an altercation with Professor Ceshlyta in my ready room." Leaving Tom to tend to B'Elanna, she turned to the Doctor for a report on their guests.

"The Techan women have all been treated. I'd like to keep Tilki here overnight but the other two can return to the surface at any time." The EMH indicated the woman whose leg he had just finished treating as he spoke. "Mr. Paris, what's Lieutenant Torres's condition?"

"Hairline fracture along the left side of the mandible, no signs of concussion." The medic called out, already reaching for an osteo-regenerator. 

Just then the door slid open to admit the first officer and his wife.

"Ah, the prodigal patient returns," the Doctor observed.

Chakotay lifted Sassy to sit her on a biobed. He kissed her softly on the cheek and whispered for her to wait there. Crossing over to where the captain stood with the EMH, he grabbed the holographic doctor by the arm and dragged him into the office. "Not today, Doctor, she's had a very long week. Those slavers who stayed behind to hunt her, found her and she was forced to kill them. She's never been in a real fight much less taken lives before and she's still in shock. Just do what you need to do and let me take her home; skip the acerbic wit."

"Is she all right?" Kathryn couldn't even imagine what her friend was feeling. Killing someone in hand-to-hand combat was much different than shooting them with a phaser. 

He looked through the window where his wife sat nursing her hand. "It'll take some time but she'll be all right."

"Perhaps I should sedate her and keep her in Sickbay for a while," the Doctor suggested. His offer was met with a withering glance from the commander. "Perhaps not."

"Just be nice."

Picking up the tricorder sitting on his desk, the EMH managed to sound insulted. "I am perfectly capable of being sensitive to the needs of my patients. " He brushed past the two officers, ignoring the look they exchanged, and crossed the room to where Sassy waited. 

"I got the bracelet unfastened, but I can't get the ring off." Ceshlyta looked up at the hologram when he approached.

Chakotay was right behind the doctor and heard her. "Let me try to get a lock on it with the transporter and beam it off." He swung around the computer workstation and tapped a few keys. In less than a minute, the ringed bracelet appeared in front of him, on top of the console. 

She shot her husband an expression of gratitude before addressing the EMH. "How are my new friends doing?" After the past week, she felt a sort of responsibility for the three local women.

The Doctor scanned her as he replied. "Actually, quite well. In fact, I was very impressed with the condition of that broken leg. I was expecting a serious infection and complications after a week in primitive conditions with no medical treatment, but she was in fairly good condition all things considered. They said that you treated their injuries with local herbs; if I may ask, how did you know which herbs to use without a tricorder to analyze them with?"

"I'm a botanist," she shrugged. "My areas of expertise are plant physiology and plant pathology. You don't receive advanced degrees in those areas without being able to analyze plant properties to a certain extent without technological assistance."

The captain, meanwhile, had gone over to check on her chief engineer. "How is she, Tom?"

"Her jaw is all fixed." The medic snapped the osteo-regenerator off and set it on a nearby tray. "Sassy broke her jaw? Sassy, the gardener married to Chakotay?"

Janeway motioned for him to keep his voice down. "That knife she threw," Kathryn met B'Elanna's gaze, not noticing the astonished expression on Tom's face at that tidbit. "She apparently used to kill several men down on the planet this past week. She was a little upset." Addressing both of them, she continued. "I don't think anyone should say anything to her about it for the time being. Am I clear?"  
  
The first officer had picked up the bracelet and moved to the other side of the biobed. He slipped the binding off her braid and combed out her long, black hair with his fingers.

"I would be interested in learning more about the medicinal properties of plants at some point." The hologram what wasn't willing to admit that he was entirely wrong about herbal potions and concoctions, but what was the use of an adaptive matrix if not to learn new things.

"Anytime," the botanist nodded. It felt so good to have Chakotay near her. Even after what she'd told him, he still wanted to touch her.

The Doctor prepared a hypospray. "You've crushed two phalanges and broken the other two in addition to the broken metacarpals. About the only thing in your right hand that you didn't manage to break is your thumb." He pressed the hypo to her neck. "This will help the pain until I can repair the damage. If you'll lie down, I also need to run a full bio scan on you after your time on the planet surface." 

Sassy swung her feet up and stretched her legs out on the biobed. The painkiller worked fast, the sharp throbbing was already starting to fade. Before she laid down, she raised her left hand to caress her husband's strong jaw. She moved her hand around to cup his head and drew his face down to her. His firm, full lips were warm against hers, opening pliantly to her tongue as it slipped into his mouth to stroke the coarse texture of his tongue. He responded passionately to her kiss, she could feel that and almost cried with relief. It was probably ridiculous to think that he wouldn't have been able to even look at her after what she'd done, still it was comforting to know for sure. His hands entwined themselves in her hair, pulling her deeper into the kiss. 

"I would advise you to not get too excited, either of you." The EMH's voice intruded on their passion. "Ceshlyta is going to be in Sickbay for several hours at least while I repair her hand and finish my scans. I would restrict her from any strenuous activities for a day or so if I thought she'd listen."

Breaking the kiss, the first officer heaved a deep sigh. "Understood, no strenuous activities." He brushed his lips across the tip of her nose and eased her back onto the biobed. "As long as we're together, we have all the time in the world."

Safe, warm and back aboard Voyager, Sassy quickly fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.  
  
Chakotay saw B'Elanna getting up to leave. He stopped her at the door.

"Don't say anything," the Klingon cautioned him. "You've got her back and it's over. I can't promise that I'll ever like her but I will admit one thing." Torres rubbed her jaw. "She's not as soft as I thought she was."

"You have always been a loyal friend to me and a valued crewmember. She is my soulmate and my wife. Don't ever force me to choose between the two of you." With those soft words, he let her walk out.

...

In her cargo bay, Seven prepared her alcove for a regeneration cycle. She had forgone regeneration during the search for Commander Chakotay's missing wife. With Professor Ceshlyta successfully recovered, she felt fatigued and in need of regeneration. Making the last adjustments to the cycle duration, she stepped into the alcove. Before she could initiate the cycle, the cargo bay door slid open.

"Seven, I know you're probably tired and need to regenerate, but this will just take a minute." Harry was on his way to the Bridge for his bi-weekly night shift command. He hadn't meant to stop by the cargo bay, a voice sounding a great deal like his had stopped the turbolift on Deck 4 and his feet had just walked themselves here.

She knew she should have delayed regeneration long enough to research human courtship rituals. Perhaps Ensign Kim had altered his perception of her suitability and wished to rescind his request. Trying to appear composed, she inclined her head in tacit encouragement for him to continue.

He crossed the cargo bay and stood on the floor looking up at the blonde Borg. "Our personal discussion was interrupted earlier." 'Keep it cognitive,' the nervous ensign reminded himself. "There was one thing which I did not have the opportunity to properly complete."

"Please explain," Seven requested, her voice modulated to a lower decibel than normal. They had spent hours together working on the sensor logs during the search for Professor Ceshlyta. She had been somewhat concerned that her performance would be adversely affected by the personal relationship that they had begun to negotiate; however, they had both worked with their usual skill and efficiency. Mr. Kim had, in fact, worked with noticeably greater efficiency than he generally did.

Harry stepped up onto the alcove platform, standing bare inches from her. He swallowed hard, steadying himself. "It is customary to seal an agreement for a romantic date with a kiss."

"I wish to experience a proper human courtship, Ensign. If it is customary to kiss, then perhaps we should proceed." His physical proximity was affecting her sensory functions. His scent was clean and masculine, the tanned skin of his face was perfectly smooth as if he had just recently shaved and his brown eyes appeared larger and darker than normal. A sense of anticipation sparked in her stomach.

"Call me Harry," he whispered as he reached around to find and remove the pins holding her silky, blond hair. Her hair fell down around her shoulders, framing her big, blue eyes. Entwining his hands in the satiny tresses, he cupped her face and gently tilted it up to him. He brushed his lips over hers in a barely-there promise of a kiss to come. When he heard her sigh softly under his feather-like caress, he captured her full, lush lips in a gentle, warm kiss. His tongue licked at her lips, softly urging them apart.

Seven found the sensations from his tender attentions immensely pleasurable. She moved closer to him, enjoying the feeling of her body pressed into his at every point, from her breasts crushed against his chest to the intertwining of their legs. Unsure of what to do with her hands, she rested them on his hips. Their firmness intrigued her and she explored them, sliding her hands around to test their tautness. As her lips and tongue began to respond to his urgings, the fluttering in her abdomen increased in intensity, the sensation spreading throughout her body. 

Blood roared in his ears as he felt the lush, fullness of her lips open pliantly under his own, her body pressed against his. His tongue began a thorough search of the warm, moist depths of her mouth to find and coax her tongue out of hiding. One hand moved around her back, pulling her tighter into his body and deepening the kiss. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he'd have to stop this soon but her innocent response to his kiss was firing his desires. Her soft curves fit perfectly against him. The physical contact wasn't enough.

Tentatively at first, but then steadily getting bolder, her tongue began to answer the demands of his. Everywhere that their bodies touched felt like an intense heat was consuming her. His hard, muscular form was a welcoming anchor in the swirl of eroticism that was overwhelming her. Wanting more of this delicious sensation, she caressed his tongue with hers before plunging it into his mouth to caress and explore the moist orifice as he had done with hers. This desire was beyond her experience, but she felt certain that he knew what he was doing and that this was right.

When his lungs demanded air, Harry forced himself to break the kiss but didn't release her. His heart was pounding, with each gasping breath he could feel the full roundness of her breasts crushing into his chest. He nuzzled the soft skin under her ear as his breathing slowed to normal.

Seven moaned aloud at the lost contact when he pulled his mouth away from hers. She started to open her eyes but then his lips and tongue found a spot near the pulse point at the top of her neck which was apparently extremely sensitive to stimulation. Her eyes drifted shut, lost in yet more intense sensation. She was gasping and whimpering at the passionate onslaught of his tongue as he flicked it against the sensitive skin.

Dropping one, last, brief kiss on those swollen, red lips, he reluctantly released the soft, incredible body and stepped off the alcove platform. "I'll get back to you with details of our date."

Opening her eyes when she felt him leave her alcove, she could feel her body tingling. Still breathing hard, she could only nod at his statement and watch him turn to leave.

"Oh, and Seven," Harry paused and turned back toward her. "Pleasant dreams."

FINIS


End file.
